Elżbieta Bieńkowska was appointed Minister of Regional Development on 16 November 2007. From January 1999 to November 2007 she worked in the Silesian Voivodship Marshall Office. As a Director of the Regional Development Department she was responsible for programming and implementation of regional development instruments funded from EU pre-accession programmes as well as Structural Funds in the framework of the National Development Plan (NPR) 2004-2006 and the National Cohesion Strategy 2007-2013. From 1996 through 1998 she worked for the Silesian Voivodship Office in Katowice. As an elder voivodship inspector in the Economy Department of the Voivodship Office, she contributed to the preparation of the regional contract for the Katowice voivodship and the preparation of the PHARE INRED programme. In 1999 she served as a proxy of the Katowice voivode on the Voivodeship Regional Strategy. In 1989 she received a master’s degree in oriental philology at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. In 1996 she graduated from Polish National School of Public Administration and in 1998 she completed the MBA postgraduate studies at Warsaw School of Economics. As an expert in international projects, she lectured at postgraduate studies at Silesian University and Warsaw School of Economics. Fluent speaker of English. Author of publications: “The role of self-government in the first period of the Structural Funds implementation in Poland – experiences from the Regional Development Integrated Operational Programme” (2005) and “Regional development planning in Poland from a regional perspective” (2002). Married, she has three children.

Born on 15 April 1958. Master's degree in Science Economic (1979). ENS, National Superior School of Technical Education (1981). Bachelor of Art History (1985). ENA, National School of Administration (1990). Central Attaché, Ministry of Agriculture (1982-86). Head of mission for the labour market functioning, Ministry of Employment (1990-94 .) Regional delegate of the Social Action Fund for the migrant workers and their families, in Ile-de-France (1994-98 ). Head of the mission modernization of the services in the Dagemo, Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs (1998-00). Deputy director of the Direction of relations at work, Ministry of social affairs, work and solidarity (2000-05). Inter-ministerial Delegate Deputy for urban and social development (2006-09) Since May 2009, Secretary General Deputy of the inter-ministerial committee for urban and social development.

Ryszard Grobelny was born on 17 April 1963 in Poznań.. In 1987, he graduated, with an MA dissertation on "The independent national councils of local level and local government planning. In 1998, Mr Grobelny was elected the Mayor of Poznań and again he was re-elected in November 2002. Since 2002, Mr Grobelny has been a member of the management board for the Foundation for Polish Metropolis Union. Since 2003, he has been the President of the Polish Cities Association. He is a member of the local government and the council, where he is a co-chairman of the team for the public finance system. Since 2004 he has been a member of the monitoring committee National Development Plan for 2004-2006 and a sub-committee for regional politics. He is also a chairman of the Poznań Council Foundation- Ille-et-Vilaine and the Foundation for the Malta International Theatre Festival. In 2005, he was awarded a Gold Medal of Merit and the Grzegorz Pałka Local Council Award. He is married to Ewa, a TV journalist, and he has two children: Karolina and Paweł.

Jacques van der Jagt worked for 35 years in the Ministry for Housing, Spatial Development and the Environment. He was in various capacities concerned with the policy and execution of urban renewal, large-scale development projects and urban networks. He regularly worked together with other ministries , especially Infrastructure and with municipalities and provinces. In 2005 he was working for the Dutch Presidency in the EU with regard to Spatial Planning. The new Spatial Planning Act was one of his last projects. He retired in 2006 from his job as Deputy Director-General for Spatial Planning.

Director of Etablissement Public Foncier Nord - Pas de Calais since 1996, Marc KASZYNSKI made most of his career in the decentralised services of the Ministry of Development, Housing and Transport. With a scientific training, a degree from the Institut Industriel du Nord in Lille and a Ph. D. in economic sciences (thesis subject : “Land observation and social and economic division of space”), Marc Kaszynski made the first part of his career (from 1973 to 1982) in the “Départementale” Direction of the Ministry (State's departmental agency for development) of Pas de Calais in Arras, where he first assisted local authorities in the fields of town and local planning, before working in a General Surveys Department. From 1983, as the decentralization acts were passed, he joined the regional direction of Nord - Pas de Calais (Ministry of Development, Housing and Transport) as head of the Development, Housing and Architecture Department, where he took part, for nearly 10 years, in the conducting of urban policies within the framework of the State / Region Planning Agreements. He contributed to the creation of the Regional Committee on Housing and Development of Nord - Pas de Calais, which he then managed from 1987 to 1994. In 1994, he became an assistant director at the Picardie Regional Direction of the Ministry in Amiens. He is an expert on land issues and the president of "Etudes foncières", a society for land surveys. He is also member of the National Commission for Polluted Soils and Sites (ADEME-Environment and Energy Management Agency) since June 2000 and participates as a member to different working groups about land, polluted sites, natural and technologic risks and land management. Under his management, the E.P.F. organized events, published good practices guides and decision support tools for local authorities.

Born on 21 September 1952 in Rybnik (Poland). Doctor of Sociology. Lecturer, expert, politician and social activist. Between 1990 and 1998 Mayor of Cieszyn. Vice-Chairman of the Association of Polish Cities responsible for contacts with European local and regional government organisations. Vice-Chairman of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. Chairman of the Polish delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. Between 1998 and 2002 Marshal of Silesian Voivodship. Since 2002 lecturer at the University of Bielsko-Biala and University of Economics in Katowice. Since 2004 Member of the European Parliament on behalf of Civic Platform (EPP-ED). Member of the EPP-ED Political Bureau. Deputy-Head of the EPP-ED Polish delegation. Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Regional Development. Member of the Budgetary Control Committee. Member of the Delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China and the Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand. Founder member and Vice-Chairman of the EP Intergroup URBAN-Housing. Member of the Editorial Board of the Parliament Magazine and the Regional Review. Winner of the European Prize of Caesar Maximilian for the impact on local and regional policy development in Europe. Winner of the Golden Ribbon of Association of Polish Cities - a merit award for outstanding service for territorial self-government and the Golden Badge of Merit - for outstanding service for the Silesia region. MEP of the year - winner of the 2007 Parliament Magazine’s MEP Awards in the field of regional policy. Winner of the Silesian Quality Prize. Honorary Silesian of the year 2008.